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I really like the general design, and the shading/texture is pretty awesome, too. I really like how you handled the cloth, especially his cowl.
I’m in a hurry, so I’m going to be pretty to-the-point with my critiques. The anatomy looks pretty spot-on, but there’s something funky going on with the foreshortening with the legs, especially his right leg. Also, I have no idea how the bow and/or quiver is attached to him or sitting on him. They look pretty floaty.

> *Originally posted by **[rawismojo](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5066980):***
>
> I really like the general design, and the shading/texture is pretty awesome, too. I really like how you handled the cloth, especially his cowl.
>
> I’m in a hurry, so I’m going to be pretty to-the-point with my critiques. The anatomy looks pretty spot-on, but there’s something funky going on with the foreshortening with the legs, especially his right leg. Also, I have no idea how the bow and/or quiver is attached to him or sitting on him. They look pretty floaty.
That awkward moment when you just realized you erased how it straps onto him, thinking they were floating pencil marks. ffffffff— Yeah, I see that. I know exactly how that happened. . . Had it sketched, but when I went to clean around/inside of him, yyyeah. I erased them without thinking. Blargh. I can’t believe I didn’t see that. That’s. . . A bit of a let-down on my part, honestly. Damn.
I see what you mean about that leg, looking at it again. I think the problem is in the lower half of it — it’s a bit too short, maybe? That’s what stands out to me, but maybe I’m looking at it wrong. The right width and everything, but just needs more length, I mean. Train of thought, the foot maybe could have been scaled down on that leg a tiny bit more, too?
Thanks. :)
(Fun fact: Both of my drawing classes this semester are about human anatomy and how to draw textures/surfaces as realistically as possible. Maybe they’ll get better-er. :o?)
* * *
> *Originally posted by **[TheWhiteAngel](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5066720):***
>
> Assassin’s Creed? Lizard? I’m calling it Lizard’s Creed. Awesome!
Skyrim! The game that made me go, “Oh man, Dark Souls!” And then never. . . Actually finish Skyrim. **Cough.** I, uh, yeah. I’ll do that, at some point. Just gotta, you know. . .
Beat Dark Souls 6 more times. NG+++++++! (That’s my goal, no lie. That’s apparently the max difficulty of the game. I’m gonna go for it!)
And then maybe Witcher 2, because I forgot about that one. . .
Bethesda loses my attention span really quickly. Too open-ended. :S
Thanks. :D Glad you like.

Hey Deriaz, I’ve been watching your thread for a while now, since your style has such official strength and such exciting balance. I’m always hoping to see more pieces popping up and keep patiently checking in… I have no inclination to stop, haha, so, please, know that I’m one more who’s watching! :o)))
You show not just motivation, but great talent and appreciation for form and volume. It’s just hard for me to figure out the degree of independence in your works, to figure out what really is Your style in all of this, you know. I don’t mean to make this sound harsh or accusing, but rather worrying, because you are clearly hammered with inspiration and may have to wriggle your way out of all this to explore who you truly are. Pick a subject you care about outside of the entertainment industry or create your personal future show, if that’s more exciting, but to me I’d just like to get to know you as the artist you are and are becoming.
Anyway, forgive me, if this sounds a little off there, because I’m sure it’s all genuine stuff, but I know a lot of contemporary designs out there due to my position in the industry for such a long time and it does somehow feel a bit more like fan art than a relaxed and sincere self-expression, even if its completely involuntary. All the more for me a reason to wanting to push you into revealing your true powers, you know. 8)
What ever it all is, it shows your talent and is a blast to look at! Thanks for sharing it all.

Nah, not harsh or accusing at all. I know what you mean, and it’s pretty obvious when you skim this thread or my stuff on other sites — I _do_ do a lot of fanart. It’s what I started with, as well as free-hand copying other artists that I found (I’ll admit it, but I don’t show it anymore. Had to start somewhere!), but I think I fell into a trend of doing it. I can see if I can break out of it. I did want to do a few backgrounds for that Kong+ thing, some fantasy-esque backgrounds, like a desert or something. Maybe I can start there? I do like stories and thinking of characters/situations — that might also be a good place for me to start breaking away from the fanart. Combine the two, perhaps, people in backgrounds/situations. (There are remnants of ideas floating around that I never went through with. Maybe I can tie them together somehow. That might be fun.)
I guess my biggest struggle is what you said, relaxed and sincere self-expression. It’s a bit voluntary that I scale it back, and maybe that’s why I’m stuck in fanart. I always start a doodle or a drawing, and then throw it away because something didn’t come out right, rather than let it happen or fix it. I just toss it. I need to unlearn habits to do that, I think. But my New Years’ Resolution _is_ to fill a sketchbook or two with finished drawings on every page, so. . . Maybe I can start there.
Anyways, I’m rambling, and it’s terribly obvious I’m doing so. 5 in the morning, told myself to sleep and respond to you tomorrow, but I couldn’t. Heh. Thank you for the comments — I will see what I can do about getting away from the fanart in the future, and doing my own, unique stuff! Thanks again. Much appreciated. :)

I think the most important thing is to find out what you really want, what you really find fascinating and what tingles your fingers to do something. Is there something you want to see, something you might even be missing in all that you’ve seen so far, or do you just to want to have something explored from a different perspective or the likes.
But at the end non of this matters. You can do what ever you want to do and that way you will find your calling. You still have time to play and play you shall. Think of it like the cat and mouse training of us humans. You sense that you’re really interested in a field and just start going there, not really knowing what or how just yet. But at some point you will come across the magic beacon, the spark that illuminates where you want to go. And off you go… :o} …just consider that there is no haste and all just a wonderful privilege.

> *Originally posted by **[Taronium](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5069978):***
>
> I think the most important thing is to find out what you really want, what you really find fascinating and what tingles your fingers to do something. Is there something you want to see, something you might even be missing in all that you’ve seen so far, or do you just to want to have something explored from a different perspective or the likes.
I guess what I want to do the most is just tell stories through art, either as the starting point for a movie or a game. That’s why I have such an interest in the entertainment field, and a bit of why I like fanart — you can take a simple image, and if you play with it enough or show emotion on a character or whatever, you can tell a lot more than words can. Or at least, that’s the goal for me, to work with a team to bring a story to life. I just need to figure out how to do that with my own stuff, not stuff that’s already established.
I do feel bad that I struggle to draw without references. If nothing else, that’s where I want to jump to next, of all the choices. But that takes years of cataloging (sp?), something I’m pretty far behind on compared to most of my peers at NSCAD. :S
* * *
> *Originally posted by **[UnitedRebellion](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5072528):***
>
> I miss this thread. So much. Keep up the goods, mate.
Hopefully I can keep it up, with the New Year resolution. I may end up disappearing for a bit in the summer, though, depending on if my plans work out or not. Not that I don’t like sharing here, but if my internship is approved, well. . . I have no choice but to jump ship for a while. D:
Thanks!

Hi guys. Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. I’ve been extremely busy with schoolwork and portfolio stuff. Still working on it, too, but I just wanted to duck in and say hello, and share at least one thing so far, since I haven’t been able to scan too many things recently.
The portfolio I sent to Blizzard seems to have gone nowhere. A bit depressing, but that’s okay. I knew that was heavy competition, and I still have miles of stuff I need to learn to even try to compete. So I’m not upset. Working on a portfolio for an animation studio right now, so that might be more up my alley, since I can demonstrate a variety of things rather than “here’s how good I am at drawing pretty things!” They let us submit photography, illustration, sculpture, even sewing projects if you do those. So that’s cool.
As for what I’m doing, I’m trying to branch out a bit. Been sketching a few ideas of stuff, getting away from the fan art stuff slowly. I still kind of use it as a base for a design, like below, but I’m starting to get some ideas going.
Practicing new ways of shading, trying to bring back in a bit of my linework without destroying any tone. I think it turned out a bit better than other attempts. The anatomy is pretty messed up, since the eyes are too high. But maybe that’s okay. I might revisit this guy, do a full body, just to see how he might look.
The idea was a Dragonborn, but, like, made of stone rather than scale? I don’t know. He ended up looking pretty strange, but I like it, I think. Maybe. I don’t know.
* * *
![](http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/069/7/8/this_is_why_i __m_failing_medieval_art__ by_deriaz-d4sautt.png)

Now if we pay you to do some concept art for us, are we free to paint over it, possibly just use it as a concept (The general pose and what-not) would we have to credit you? Or are we receiving all royalties upon purchase of said sketch?

> *Originally posted by **[GraphicDesignC](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5374727):***
>
> Now if we pay you to do some concept art for us, are we free to paint over it, possibly just use it as a concept (The general pose and what-not) would we have to credit you? Or are we receiving all royalties upon purchase of said sketch?
If you wanted something, I would end up completing it as best I can from what you describe, as well as some edits (not an excessive amount, but I’m obviously not going to say “No, this is what it looks like, deal.”). I give you the digital version, and it’s yours to do what you want with. If you post just what I made, I’d like to be credited. If you paint over it, it’d be nice to see some tidbit saying “Lines by Deriaz” or something, nothing huge. If you take it, distort it, completely tear it apart and re-assemble it, and it doesn’t really resemble what I did anymore (so, a “concept”), then nah, you don’t need to credit me, I’d say. It’d be cool, but I’m not going to freak out over it if you don’t in that instance.
I forgot to update it, though — since I’m in finals right now, and will be for the next month (massive projects in 2 classes: a series of drawings, and both of them are taking up a whole wall of my room, plus research projects in the other 2 classes), I can’t do anything too huge for anyone. Rough lines are okay because I can get you those pretty quickly, but anything more than that and I would need to consider it first. I don’t want to take on something and make someone wait around forever. But I’m always open to a PM if you still have an idea, I just might not be as available right now. :\<

I’m just talking about some basic concept art. Sometimes I find it hard to draw up my own concepts, that’s probably the laziest thing ever said by an artist. But I may in the near future purchase a basic sketch from you. I like to think of it as having another set of eyes really, you write down your formula, and have a colleague look over it.

Oh, yeah, in that case, it depends on how far you run with it. If you keep the design pretty close to what I come up with, I’d say credit me with at least the basic concept. And if you springboard off of it in a completely different direction, some sort of mention of me would be cool, but yeah, I’m not going to complain if you don’t, because all I wound up being was a springboard for you. Hopefully that makes sense — if it doesn’t, uh, you can credit me and that’s probably the easiest route. Heh.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, all I ask for in return is to post the artwork on my own pages. I give credit to who purchased it, but I still need to upload/share it for portfolio and record-keeping reasons.

EDIT: I know one or two people I talk to from around here say they’re on Tumblr more often now, too? So I finally went and set one up real fast, just with a few recent things. [http://deriaz.tumblr.com/](http://deriaz.tumblr.com/) I will still be posting stuff here too! I just figure if there’s anyone that goes there more often than here, maybe that’s easier for you. Dunno what I’m doing! :V
ohhi~ I should be doing homework right now, but I’m so burnt out with these classes at this point that. . . Well, I want to draw something for myself. So I did over the past two nights. I think it’s a cumulative hour and a half of work here. Originally based on the Dragonborn from D&D, he eventually mutated into my own little creation. Like I said, I’m getting there. It’s not exactly fanart, but it’s not an exact copy. We’re making progress, right?
Tentative name is Gol’iare. A character concept, I guess, that I’ll be taking further into either actual shading or full color, since I’d like to use him as a test for Photoshop. A continuation of the last upload, the portrait. I like the idea behind the character.
Using him in an upcoming NaNoWriMo, or at least, I’ll be writing a story with him in it, even if I don’t win.
I think his torso is a bit too squat, but that’s okay, since I wanted the majority of him to be leg length. I’m just hoping it doesn’t make the anatomy look ~~too~~ wonky. And I hope the lines are interesting — I’m starting to get the hang of Photoshop a bit, though my lines are a bit shaky still.
* * *
![](http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/080/f/c/a_vest_on_my_chest __a_bullet_in_my_lung__ by_deriaz-d4tjabz.png)
* * *
Enjoy.

> Using him in an upcoming NaNoWriMo
Sweet!
Have you tried writing comics or doing some graphic work in that manner? Just a thought. Would be interesting to see a story or something unfold not only through pure words but through pictures as well.

I’ve been tempted to, and I’ve done one or two things, but they came out pretty laughably bad. Since I’m focusing on school right now, I haven’t given them another shot, so I’ve been reading up on how I’m supposed to place speech bubbles, pace shots, etc. so it isn’t as much of a train wreck.
In the future I’d love to do it. But at the moment, I don’t have the skill to really do much in that regard. :(

Just putting a quick update here on the Gol’iare guy. Been toying with some colors, and I think this is the basic layout I want to go with, but that could change. Next is actually putting some shading to the color, as well as the beginnings of a background, but that will all happen alongside other doodles and stuff, like a Turian that I’m in the middle of drawing if THE MOUTH WOULD JUST— UGGGGH. THOSE FFFFFFFFFFF THE LIPS. JUST. . .
Anyways. Ahem. Gol’iare.
![](http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/088/e/7/a_vest_on_my_chest __a_bullet_in_my_lung__ by_deriaz-d4ucf0u.png)

Been swamped with college work recently, so no progress on anything complete. HOWEVER, I’ve decided to start up speed sketching when I get small breaks, and I’m doing these primarily in Photoshop as I’d like to break into the digital medium, but feel I’m terribly weak there and can’t do a full piece. Which is also why Gol’iare has been put on pause for now, amongst other reasons.
First one was from Off Topic, in a topic where people sketched other people’s usernames. Someone was named Army\_\_Of\_\_One, so in 15 minutes, I came up with this:
![](http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/082/f/c/speed_sketch_1_by_deriaz-d4tqng1.png)
Second was after a Mass Effect 2 high, and moving into Mass Effect 3. A Turian. A reference was used at the beginning, but once his fringe and his eyes were placed, it wasn’t needed as much. Another 15 minutes here:
![](http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/088/a/0/speed_sketch_2_by_deriaz-d4ud0s7.png)
Third was tonight, taking a break from a research paper to do yet another 15 minutes. Still addicted to Mass Effect’s universe again, so tonight, I wanted to do a Krogan with the goal of color that shows a bit of depth and maybe some skin tone/pattern. Not sure if succeeded, but I like the result for what it’s worth:
![](http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/097/9/0/speed_sketch_3_by_deriaz-d4vdlw7.png)
All 3, again, were done in 15 minutes. Lumping them together because they’re horribly messy and not really that great, but I feel like I’m making some progress. Just looking from #1 to #3 makes me feel like I’m beginning to get somewhat of a grasp on Photoshop. I think the next speed sketch will be about an hour, to really let myself explore the program and some techniques/settings I discovered with the Krogan. Feedback is appreciated all the same, however — I may like where I’m headed, but I’m more than open to the suggestion of trying another route.

I really like these, especially the Gol’aire sketch/color. I’d really love to see that piece finalized. For the speed sketches, I really love the direction, but you might get something a little more organic/natural/something if you tried to do more long broad strokes instead of short scratchy ones. It’s a classic technique taught in drawing courses, and it’s harder to translate to using a drawing tablet, but I think you’ll like the difference it makes once you get used to it.

Oh yeah, Gol’iare will definitely be finished. I just need to build up a bit more skill before I move further, because I don’t want it to be a complete travesty. But he WILL be finished. I like him too much.
I’ve been doing the small, scratchy bits because my current Figure Drawing prof likes the energy that I have (going to be getting shots of them and putting them up within the next week or two, once finals are out of the way) in gestures and in longer poses. Been trying to get that moved over to here. I start with scratchy, then eventually get to something smoother in traditional, but the timed digital sketches doesn’t seem to let me get as far quite yet. But for the next one, if I squeeze one or two in before I do a longer one, I’ll try the longer, broader lines. See what I can do. Thanks. :D

So, I was tempted to begin work on Gol’iare, but I realized that I didn’t really know how best to approach the style of color that I wanted to get. Luckily, a speed sketch went way beyond being just a sketch, and I’m getting some much needed practice for that. On the flip side, I’ve got a bunch of little projects going, and someone asked for a request of his own Turian, so I’m also now playing the balancing game on what to work on when. Not that I mind.
Few things:
1) I think I’m doing okay with variation in skin tone and blending the colors pretty well, though I know I could probably take it further. I have not gotten work done on his head nor the detail of his face yet. The arm is also only very basic — no variations there. But for the first time I’ve really giving my best effort at blending/color. . . I think this is a good foundation for not really having a reference or process thing or anything.
2) “Why is there a floating face?” someone asked me. Answer: Because I didn’t leave enough room to do detail for his synthetic eyes in the original sketch. Floating face, go!
![](https://d.facdn.net/art/deriaz/1334995970.deriaz_revvis_is_looking_okay_now.png)
Hopefully I will have more to show during these next few weeks I have off, like this guy being finished, as my semester ended just two days ago. Feels like I’m getting a lot of stuff done and learning a lot in these past few nights, though.

Hot spit, that looks really awesome. I love the shading that borders on line-drawing in the face and would really love to see it in the rest of the illustration. It still feels pretty flat to me and lacking secondary shadows (the horn-things, arm tubes, and chest-thing aren’t casting shadows, even soft ones, and probably should be), but I assume that’s just due to it being unfinished. I really love where the face is going, and can’t wait to see some highlights thrown up there.

> *Originally posted by **[rawismojo](/forums/5/topics/98263?page=9#posts-5607569):***
>
> Hot spit, that looks really awesome. I love the shading that borders on line-drawing in the face and would really love to see it in the rest of the illustration. It still feels pretty flat to me and lacking secondary shadows (the horn-things, arm tubes, and chest-thing aren’t casting shadows, even soft ones, and probably should be), but I assume that’s just due to it being unfinished. I really love where the face is going, and can’t wait to see some highlights thrown up there.
They’re casting some pretty weak shadows, yeah. I was just noticing them last night around 5 in the morning (discovered I do good work like this when I’m about ready to pass out from fatigue), so they’re barely noticeable unless at, like, the 400% zoom or something I’m sitting at when I’m blending. I’m trying to figure out exactly how to approach them.
The goal tonight is a bit more work on the face and, more importantly, the arm. I want to focus on the face last since that’s the most important point, I feel. So. . . Yeah. I’m still pretty happy with it, despite not really having any guide or anything. That’s been general opinion on other sites too, so I know I’m doing at least something right. I’m hoping, some day in the future, to get this blending stuff down well enough that I can start bordering on a bit of realism. But for now, baby steps with tiny baby leaps of self-guided learning it is!
Thanks! :D
(Hopefully none of this comes off as bragging or anything. Genuinely am happy with it, so the tone to take away is newbie happiness.)

So, I got some secondary shadows going, I think. At least, I feel like there’s depth. I don’t know if I got rid of the “flat” feeling very well, in the parts where I felt it was having that problem the most, but. . . That might be my slight hesitation with color, since I’m pretty bad at actually entering into the color world. I feel a bit lost amongst it all.
But that said, given my pretty limited skillset in this area of work. . . I’m pretty happy with the final result. Though I’m still okay with hearing what is wrong for future reference, as I did get requested to draw someone’s Turian character as well. So I’ll end up doing something similar here shortly.
![](https://d.facdn.net/art/deriaz/1335163996.deriaz_revvis_complete.png)

I really dig it. Some parts do feel a bit flat, as you mentioned, but I think that could be cured by being a bit more bold with your highlights. Some crisp highlights and secondary/diffused light sources can really help make it pop out. I really hate to admit, though, that I rather prefer the face on the WIP to the finished face. Your blending looks good, but I love the blotches of solid color in the WIP. It gives it a really awesome painterly quality that I really dig. I know it’s working away from realism, but it’s a quality I see in a lot of concept art that I wish I could replicate better. That said, I really like it.